Where's the Ingredient?!

Dahil's Bakery was always the best in town, not because the bakery had been in the town of Sweetisburg since the day it had been made, but because the cakes, pastries, and other delicacies found there were of INCREDIBLE taste! owing to something that was kept hidden for a very long time, until, one unlucky day, it had been stolen. The "Very Secret Ingredient" was gone!

                        ***

I had waited in line with my friend Sheryl for a long time when the news came. Wait, did I introduce myself? No? How rude of me! sorry, as you can see, I'm quite feeble. My name is Madison Cookie, I am a huge cookie and pastry lover! Just like my family, I look like I am always happy, which lands me in trouble sometimes. But, after a whole year of waiting, the day was finally here! Cookie day was finally here! On this day, Mrs. Dahil gives away all of her special cookies and pastries free! The whole town comes here just to have a taste of her "Very Special Ingredient", but as I stood in line with my best friend Sheryl Chocolate, I began to see a ruckus forming at the entrance of her bakery, so naturally both of us started to run towards it. Upon reaching the shop, I was both shocked and sad. I saw a grey-coated inspector standing at the empty safe where the "Very Secret Ingredient" was kept, with Mrs. Dahil beside him who glanced worried looks at all of us standing there. The inspector murmured something to Mrs. Dahil after which he came to the front of the store and announced "My name is Inspector Sausage Mustard, and, there has been a break-in at the store yesterday, I am yet to understand the motive of the said crime and the Crime-doer himself" "Or Herself!" said someone from the crowd, some of us laughed. The inspector shrugged himself and asked Mrs. Dahil about what had been stolen from the store, She answered with a worried face " My Very Secret Ingredient only!". Gasps and worried sounds started to form from the crowd, Both I and Sheryl gasped and looked repetitively at the empty vault. The Inspector seemed irritated and unsettled at the same time. I entered the shop with Sheryl and asked Mrs. Dahil if we can help but she answered with a sigh and said that it was too dangerous for us, and requested us to go back home. She stepped out of the shop and requested others also to bear with her for the inconvenience and to come back later. As everyone started to disperse with frowns and angry faces, I and Sherly were left alone inside the shop, just as we were leaving I noticed something shiny at the far end of the counter, curiously I shrugged Sheryl to follow me and picked up the peculiar object, It was a gold pendant with a circular shape and silver lining, it looked beautiful, I notice it had a very small dent and wondered who it belonged to. Charmed by its peculiar beauty, I kept looking at it for a solid minute when Sheryl noticed the Inspector coming at us and gave me a small pinch on the shoulder. I turned to see Mrs. Dahil outside the shop talking to some people I didn't know and the Inspector coming towards us with a strange look. We started to leave when he asked us about the object we were holding, I showed him the pendant and he asked us where we found it, I told him the truth and he requested the pendant to be returned to him and became a little worried that we were trying to steal it. I confessed I liked it and asked if I can have it back, but he said that the pendant may be evidence and said that he would give it to us once the investigation was over and if its original owner is not found. If we only knew that pendant was going to be the worst of our problems.

                       *** 

I let out a short sigh to myself while walking to my house after I said goodbye to Madison, I did not like goodbyes at all, they always seemed to make me sad. The road to my house was empty that day because most of the town had returned sadly to their homes, just like me. I reached my house and knocked on the door, My mother shouted from inside "Who's There?" and I answered with a short "Me". She opened the door and asked why I was back so soon and told her about the break-in, Madison finding the pendant, the strange Inspector, and everything else, unlike my friends, I am a very good story-teller and almost never miss out on details. My mother gave a worried look at me and asked if they can help, but I quoted Inspector Sausage's words "It's Too Dangerous". Some words that I would go on to understand better in the future. I woke up the next day from a pleasant sleep and found my parents sitting on the couch reading the daily paper. My father gave a short glance at me and asked jokingly if "The sleeping beauty had a good sleep or not?". I answered with a sarcastic "No of course not". My father, Robert Chocolate, was the funny guy in the family, he always made jokes and made us laugh. My mother, Mildred Chocolate, was also funny, but she worried a lot and often gets scared if her jokes made one uncomfortable, thinking that she did a 'horrible thing'. I asked them what they were reading about and my mother answered "About the Bakery, there's something you should know, It just came in the news that Mrs. Dahil has decided to close shop and move to her old apartment at SpiceLand!". I looked at my parents in disbelief and asked if they knew when she was leaving, they answered with a sad 'No'. I jumped out onto the street and started sprinting towards her shop. As I was running I thought I saw a small glimpse of Mrs. Dahil herself at the corner of my eye but ignoring it I kept running. Both I and Madison have known Mrs. Dahil since we were kids and so did our parents for a very long time! So hearing of her sudden departure made me very sad. As I came near the shop I saw Inspector Sausage standing there with Madison beside him talking to each other. She saw me and waved at me, I waved back. I started panting when I reached them, I did not realize I had run all the way there. I asked Madison where Mrs. Dahil was and if she had heard the news, she nodded and informed me that both she and the Inspector have been waiting there for a long time for Mrs. Dahil, but she is nowhere near the shop. I looked at them with a worried face and started to speculate if Mrs. Dahil has already left. But, I let out a sigh of relief when I saw her Pink colored car parking in the nearby lot, and so did Madison and the Inspector. I waved at her as she got out of the car, she waved back gleefully and walked towards us, she looked agitated, as if she was scared of something, or SOMEONE. The inspector greeted her and asked her about the sudden decision of leaving town, and she answered with a frown on her face "I have let down this town, its people. It's best if they start to live without Cookie Day anymore". Even the Inspector had a sad look on his face. I wanted to stop her, but she was right, without the Very Secret Ingredient, Cookie Day was not possible.

"But," she said. "If the Ingredient is found within the next 24 hours, I can, possibly, continue my Bakery here"

"We will do it! We will find it. We promise" I said, not out of compassion, but out of instinct. I have never ceased to help one in problem, and I knew today wasn't that day. Both Madison and the Inspector nodded. I knew that finding the ingredient would be hard, but what would be harder, was running from the one who stole it.

***

I stepped out of the shop, Sheryl was still inside looking for clues while the inspector started making calls. I looked out into the street, there were fewer cars today, I could see some boys playing soccer in the nearby field. I felt sad, and worried, that if we were to find the ingredient, we would have to take risks. Who knows how dangerous this burglar is? I was about to leave and go back home and ask for my parents' help when the Inspector said "I got news to Mrs. Dahil". I went back inside and asked what it was, he said " Well the news is really good, but........the pendant they found had a photo inside with a man's face and the letter R at the bottom. The photo also has some fingerprints on it, they are old, so it will take some time, 21 hours to be exact, before the fingerprint is identified and the reports come to me, so...". "But that is good isn't it? we will find who did this and probably where the ingredient is hidden too!". At this point, I realized Mrs. Dahil was looking scared at the Inspector. I wondered why but shrugged it off when I realized that this evidence would be of no use since it would take us a lot of time to find the ingredient also, by which the 24 hours would have passed. I looked down in frustration. Sheryl put a hand on my shoulder and asked if I was okay, I was at a loss for words and didn't respond. Mrs. Dahil kissed me and Sheryl on our foreheads and left. I felt as if the world was ending, I screamed at myself inside. Who can do such a thing? I had been standing there for 10 minutes That's when the next worst thing came. The Inspector was standing there when someone called him, he picked it up and murmured something. Then suddenly he screamed "You...." and then proceeded to curse under his breath. Sheryl looked weirded out by that. He put down the phone and said it was Mrs. Dahil. She said that her house has been trashed! the Inspector hurriedly asked us where she lived, and we led him to her house. We entered the house upon finding the door open, I let out a gasp and Sheryl let out a short squeal when we saw that the entire house was upside down, a table had been thrown, glass was broken, the cutlery was on the floor in pieces, windows had cracks in it and there were tear marks on her couch and pillows. It looked like a wild animal had been in there, but where was Mrs. Dahil herself? She was supposed to be here. I was still standing in the doorway of her house when both Sherly and Inspector Sausage entered the room and started to dig for clues through the rubble. I entered the room and noticed all the drawers were open. The Inspector proclaimed that whoever was here was looking for something, but WHAT? I started to look into each of the drawers and found mundane objects like scissors and diaries in there until I came across a very strange looking paper, it looked like it had bloodstains on it. My eyes grew wide in fear when I turned the piece of paper to see what was written on it. I let out an excited scream when I saw the words " CO-ORDS" written on it, I was about to call out to the Inspector when I noticed he was on another call. His eyes gave a short glance to me, after which he put the phone down and said "We need to go to the bakery". We reached the bakery faster than we expected, it turned out that Mrs. Dahil's house to the bakery was closer than we thought while coming there. There were dozens of people standing there, I wondered what they were looking at. Sherly asked if I felt tired, I answered with a 'No' but in reality, I WAS a little bit tired. We pushed through the crowd and saw drops of a red liquid spilled on the floor forming a trail. Was that blood? The thought made me uncomfortable and I tried to avoid it. Both I, Sheryl and Inspector Sausage began to follow the trail, it led to a corner of the counter, but there was nothing there, but just then I realized that there was a small latch at that exact spot on the counter. I pulled the latch while the Inspector and Sheryl watched, a small hatch suddenly opened on the counter, we jumped in surprise and looked inside the hatch, it had a bottle inside. I pulled the bottle out and read the label "Very Secret Ingredient". I let out a cry of disbelief, so did the Inspector and Sheryl. But there was nothing inside the bottle! It was empty and only contained a small piece of rolled paper that said "Follow the coordinates". I pulled the paper stating "CO-ORDS" out from my pocket and showed it to Inspector Sausage, He read the coordinates and checked it on his cell phone. He called someone and asked if "it was ready?". He then suddenly screamed "WHAT?!" and began to sprint towards one of the roads leading towards a row of buildings. He said to us that he knows who did it and told us that we are going to the coordinates. We reached a very big and broad building with the words "WAREHOUSE #2" written on a sign in front of it. We entered through an open door at the side of a building. It was very dark and we could not see almost anything when the Inspector pulled out a flashlight, but out of nowhere, a familiar voice came saying "There's no need of that, I'm turning the lights anyway". Rows of bright tubes of light began to fill the room. I covered my eyes for a second because of the sudden extreme brightness. I looked around to see the Inspector looking concerned and Sheryl looking dumbfounded when I saw Mrs. Dahil come out into the light from a corner of the large room. The Inspector screamed "Mrs. Rodaline Dahil, you are under arrest for staging a fake crime and pulling a public and social prank!". I let out a short "what?" when I heard the words, but saw that Mrs. Dahil was smiling at us. Sheryl went up to her and asked "Why?". She answered, " O dear, I'm sorry I had to put you two through all that drama. I was only looking for a worthy successor."

"What are you talking about?" I asked in a disturbed tone

"You see, all these years, the Ingredient was a secret only I knew, and my Grandfather before me. It was a family tradition, and we were to pass on the ingredient recipe to our nieces and nephews. In this way, the family legacy would live on. But I am the last of my family and I am old, I only have a few more days, so I am going to see my doctor but I have no nephews and nieces to pass the Ingredient recipe onto. So I staged this elaborate crime, I wanted to find someone worthy and responsible who would cherish the craft of bakery, one who would continue my family legacy, over the last 2 days, I observed both of you, and I saw confidence. It was enough for me to determine who this successor would be but I still wanted assurance. I found both of you stuck the day I decided that maybe the Ingredient should just die with me. But I saw that if I was to give you a little push, you would find the secret on your own. And now, you did. Congratulations Madison and Sheryl, I would want both of you to take all the responsibilities of my bakery and my legacy. Would you do it for me?"

We both shouted a sad 'yes'.

"But how would we control your bakery, we don't even have the 'Very Secret Ingredient'"

"But you do! The secret Ingredient is inside you. There was never any 'Very Secret Ingredient'. I only said and acted there was!"

"But why?" I asked

"To make people happy by making them feel that they were a part of something special, something secret, something sweet. By making them feel this, they felt worthful, they felt happy. And that's the most a baker can do."

She gave one final smile at us and said goodbyes to both Sheryl and me. She shook hands with Inspector Sausage who just looked at her. She started to walk away from us, farther from us, gave us one final wave, and left through the door. I looked at Sheryl and we made a promise, a promise that we will never break, "WE will continue Mrs. Dahil's legacy, and we will do what she wanted, make people happy. I PROMISE"